Emergency

The imposition of emergency announced by President General Pervez Musharraf in his capacity as Army Chief has put to rest the rumors circling around the country for the past few weeks.

President Gen Pervez Musharraf in his capacity as Army Chief under article 232 of the constitution announced the imposition of emergency. All civil rights from article 232 till 237 have been suspended.

Prime Minister and Cabinet members would continue to perform their duties while Senate, National Assembly, and provincial assemblies would remain intact.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry has been removed from his post as army troops take control of the Supreme Court.

All communication contacts have been cut off mobile and Internet services have been suspended and private TV channels transmission closed down.

The army has taken control of the federal capital and a large number of troops and rangers have been deployed at public places, embassies and other key government installations. More than 1000 troops of frontier constabulary have been summoned to maintain security.

1)Is this act justified at such a crucial time?

2)Will emergency help curbing Extremism and fundamentalism?

3)Is this the end of a free Judiciary?

Reader Comments:

Imran Khan

I Imran Khan is Ok, I am so worried about him.
Allah will never for give any one who harms him.

Alisia Drew, Aruba - 17 November, 2007

Power Corrupts-II

Uncle Sam suddenly worried about where his $10Billion aid is going apart from benefiting few individuals’ bank accounts and future fixed assets. Scary!! Our poor soldiers are not getting proper equipment to fight the war against terror. Our soldiers who are out there to sacrifice their lives for the sake of one good human are not eligible to get bomb jammers when their trucks are blasted by road side bombs. Ohh I know why!! It’s because we bought the equipment only to save our Generals. As for our poor soldiers, well we have so many….Who cares!!

Zain, Pakistan - 20 November, 2007

Power Corrupts-III

So now Uncle Sam wants his $10 Billion/year aid to have some accountability!! Great news, but he should bring his own software to do all accounts as ours has a big virus issue and numbers won’t reconcile in the end as the big SLUSH fund account is locked. It was strange for our General to say “The nukes are safe if I am around” well, General, Why don’t you pack all of your nukes in your briefcase and move to Uncle Sam’s home, Pakistanis need peace & prosperity, if that all comes for a price of One General, few nukes and few corrupt politicians!! So be it!! Freedom is won with brains and balls and we have enough of them!!

Zain, Pakistan - 20 November, 2007

musharaf stands

he is good ruler,and he have not been making progress for the development of educational institutions,journey parks in lahore,and protection of the peoples

imran, Pakistan - 21 November, 2007

EMERGENCY RULE LASTS !

Well it seems that emergency is meant for pro musharraf but these are the steps you can say must take by a ruler to counter the safety of basic unit of countyr that is federation. when you say that it should be not taken then or taken late then you said that by historain that rulers are careless! well everything is fine but it sole responsibility of current ruler. i am not full fan of the goverment but a citizen i am said things are necessary but whatever means you can extract.

ADEEL, Pakistan - 25 November, 2007

musaraf plz stop now

plz u can go now....bcoz of u our pakistan is in trouble

Shaggz, Pakistan - 27 November, 2007

musharraf is a Terrorist

musharraf is a thief, terrorist, fraud,criminal. he just think of himself.
he never think about the people of PAKISTAN. plz plz plz musharraf u can go from our country.
musharraf plz stop everything.you are making fun of ISLAM

Your Well Wisher, Pakistan - 27 November, 2007

Swat Crisis

Pakistan needs to focus on the swat crisis at the moment!!! IT'S GETTING OUT OF HAND!

My family live in that area and it is really hard not knowing what is going on. What we do know though, is that many gunships are bombing homes of innocent people. They have even bombed my family's house because of these warizitsan people residing all over the area!!

Pakistan need to act now. Pakistan have the money from America to fund their military, so why is it taking so long to secure the swat area??!!

Also, that taliban fazullah is in hiding, so why the hell are innocent people fighting his battle? I don't understand their matrydom...

Iram Khan, United Arab Emirates - 27 November, 2007

its the bad luck of Pakistani nation that they are going to loose of a person like Musharraf. He is such a superb person with great wisdom and understanding.

But as always, We will kick him out and will bring back the same monsters eating us generation to generation.

Mohammad Yousaf, Pakistan - 27 November, 2007

America Under Zionist Terrorist leaders..

A neoconservative cabal with an alien agenda captured the Bush administration and committed American blood, energy, and money to aggression against Muslim countries in the Middle East, while permitting America's domestic borders to be overrun by immigrants and exporting the jobs that had made the US an opportunity society. War and offshoring have taken a savage economic toll while open borders and diversity have created social and political division.America's demise in terms of the erosion of freedoms. She writes that the ten classic steps that are used to close open societies are currently being taken in the US. Martial law is only a declaration away.

The Bush administration responded to September 11 by initiating military aggression in the Middle East and by using fear and the "war on terror" to implement police state measures at home with legislation, presidential directives, and executive orders

Overnight the US became a tyranny in which people could be arrested and incarcerated on the basis of unsubstantiated accusation. Both US citizens and non-citizens were denied habeas corpus, due process, and access to attorneys and courts. Congress gave Bush legislation establishing military tribunals, the procedures of which permit people to be condemned to death on the basis of secret evidence, hearsay, and confessions extracted by torture. Nothing of the like has ever been seen before in the US.

The cancer might have metastasized if the Guantanamo detainees had actually been the dangerous terrorists and enemy combatants that the Bush regime declared them to be. Had the administration actually possessed evidence against the detainees, the Bush regime might have succeeded in dispensing with the Constitution. Conviction of the detainees could have led to what Wolf calls a "fascist expansion." Following the exercise of its new powers, the regime could have broadened the definition of terrorist to include the regime's critics, thus pulling citizens in general into tribunals devoid of civil liberty protections.
It could still turn out this way in the event of another 9/11 attack, whether real or orchestrated. But momentarily the drive toward tyranny has been blunted, because the vast majority of detainees turned out to be hapless individuals sold into American captivity by warlords responding to the bounty the US paid for "terrorists." Any unprotected individual was vulnerable to being captured by Afghan and Pakistani warlords and sold as a "terrorist." The Americans needed to show results, and the Bush regime needed "terrorists" in order to feed the fear its propaganda had generated.

In Stalinist Russia or Nazi Germany, the absence of evidence would not have mattered as the judicial system produced the results demanded by the tyrants. However, the US military had not been sufficiently corrupted for the Bush regime's Guantanamo agenda to succeed. Honorable officers, such as Lt. Col. Stephen Abraham, were able to discern that the US government had no information on the detainees and used interrogations in order to rubber stamp the a priori determination that a detainee was a terrorist or enemy combatant. Military officers made these revelations known to real courts before the tribunal process could establish itself..
The Bush administration has been a catastrophe. Its failures are unprecedented. Energy prices are at all time highs. The US is deeply in debt and dependent on foreign creditors. The dollar has lost 60 per cent of its value against other tradable currencies, and its reserve currency status, the basis of American power, is in doubt. The US has lost millions of middle class jobs which have been replaced with low paid domestic service jobs. Except for the very rich, Americans have experienced no gains in real income in the 21st century. As the ladders of upward mobility are dismantled and the middle class struggles and fails, America is left with a few rich and many poor. America's reputation and credibility are damaged perhaps beyond repair. Congress and the press have enabled the executive branch's disregard of the Constitution and civil liberty. The US is mired in two lost wars which are pushing Lebanon and nuclear-armed Pakistan into deepening political crises.

"Our day of reckoning is at hand."

shams tabrazi, Pakistan - 27 November, 2007

You deserve it

In political science they say'people get the sort of government they deserve and not what they desire'.Pakistanis are too unruly to be ruled by decent type of government. Anyhow, now that the emergency is likely to be withdrawn the question of further debate in the matter does not arise.

Al-Haque, Hungary - 29 November, 2007

Ungrateful People

Hey Pakistani People, you are going against a President who ruled your country nicely for last 8 years. President Pervez Musharraf brought economic development in Pakistan. He is trying to make Pakistan an industrialist country instead of only depending on Textile exports. Remember how badly Nawaz Sharif ruled in the late 1990s. Remember how Benazir Bhutto & her husband looted your country. Remember how Nawaz Sharif family looted Pakistan. On the contrary, Pervez Musharraf did not steal a single Rupee. He brought Shaukat Aziz from America to lead Pakistan into economic progress. Pervez Musharraf even gave a lot of money for education development. Under his support, Pakistan is able to export software in overseas market successfully. In his term, there was a lot of progress in terms of Infrastructures all over the Pakistan. Nice highways, bridges, dams & so many other things were built. He is a visionary leader. Pakistan’s unruly media, corrupt politician & over ambitious judges and badmash lawyers are bringing down this great leader who wanted to transform Pakistan to an economically & militarily strong country in the South Asia. Remember what shameless Imran Khan said after Musharraf’s plane was hijacked back in 1999 by Nawaz Sharif. He said Nawaz should be hanged because Imran Khan’s relative was in that plane who might have died if the plane was not landed swiftly. Now he is with Nawaz Sharif to get rid of Musharraf, as Imran Khan was not chosen by Musharraf to run the country. Do you guys remember what Benazir Bhutto said after Musharraf led the coup in 1999? I remember, she said Musharraf was patriot and that is why he led the coup to save Pakistan. Now that shameless lady is trying to get rid off Musharraf to sell her country and to loot the common Pakistanis again. Remember about Jamate Islami during Nawaz Sharif’s last tenure, they wanted to get rid off this Nawaz who was looting the country at that time. Now this stupid Jamate Islami is sitting with Nawaz to destroy Pakistan. Oh, you pity Pakistanis you hate Musharraf because he is a Muhajir. Allah will give you guys proper punishment for that. Hey you Pakistani media people learn from Bangladesh. In our country when media try to create agitation they get severly punished for that. Because we cannot sacrifice law and order in the name of press freedom. There is a limit of press freedom which is practiced by Bangladeshi media. Indian media never try to make this kind of chaos & anarchy in their country like the Pakistani media try. Some months ago, one private TV station in Bangladesh was banned because it was trying to make agitation in the country. Pakistan should act like that. Bangladeshi newspapers are careful, they do not publish news in a way that there will be fighting, burning in the country. On the other hand, Pakistani newspaper publish news in a way that people start to think there is a big chaos even though nothing too bad happened in reality. They just want to agitate people. If you Ungrateful Pakistanis remove Musharraf from power, I hope Allah punish you guys very badly. And I am sure as Musharraf steps down, Benazir & Nawaz will fight each other to rule the country again and as a result there will be complete chaos in Pakistan and at that time USA & India will enter Pakistan to destroy the nuclear arms of Pakistan. That is why now International media is giving too much bad coverage about Pakistan so Pakistan’s nuclear destruction by USA & India can be justified. As a result, you Pakistanis will burn eternally with nuclear destruction which you guys deserve.

Hasan, Bahrain - 02 December, 2007

Pakistani's are idealist even if it destroys them

The opinions expressed here really are a microcosm of what is going on in the country. The fundamental problem in Pakistan is that when it comes to our own day to day lives we have no qualms in using whatever means we need to use to achieve what we want or need. Yet when it comes to our leaders we want them to be saints who use absolutely the most pure of behaviors to rule and guide us. Nothing in our personal lives is ideal behavior, it is far from it. But the leaders have to be ideal.

OK , so lets say the leader has to be ideal., but which ideal? The Taliban sympathizers here want him to be Mullah Omar or Osama bin Laden. The so called intellectuals want him to be a perfect democrat, a very liberal democrat. The businessmen want him to be perfect for business, and on and on.

In a country where no one is perfect we want the leader to be perfect. Well the leader is nothing but a reflection of who we are. Go look in the mirror, does the person in the mirror resemble Bhutto, Musharraf, Sharif, Altaf, Fazalur Rehman, a Qazi Ahmed more? Or does the person in the mirror resemble the Prophet Mohammad or Bibi Khadeeja more?

In a country where we can pay bribes, drive on the wrong side of the street, push and shove each other as we walk on the street, spit or throw our litter anywhere and everywhere, can tell a lie without hesitation, in short where we are willing to break small and large rules of law and decency, we want the leader to be perfect. He or she is to walk a straight line where there are no straight lines to be walked.

All of us will instantly justify ourselves by saying that we can only get what we need by some crooked path, but this seems to be a privilege that should only be reserved to us, no one else, especially the leader.

So what is it that we do when our leaders turn out to be less than ideal? Without thinking what is good for us, what is good for our country, who is the best amongst the choices available to us, we throw out whoever is in power. It never enters our minds that we are about to replace him or her with someone worse, proven worse. It never occurs to us that we are about to destabilize the very ground that we walk on, and for what?

Can anyone tell me that we were better off or will be better off under Bhutto, Sharif, Altaf, Fazalur Rehman, etc. Can you not remember Pakistan 8 years ago, 15, 20, 30, or 50 years ago? Go back and read what the same writers were writing in the press right after the last coup. Do you not remember how much money was in our national treasury when the day Musharaf took over? How was the supreme court treated before him? How were the relations with India? What was our GDP growth rate before him? What construction projects were going on before him? How late could you stay out safely before him? How often did you hear Kalishnakov go off in major cities before him? How much money foreign investors were putting into Pakistan before him? How much freedom the media had before him? How many people were diasappearing at the hands of the government agencies or criminal before him?

Are we stupid enough to accuse Musharaff of taking these extreme steps in his and only his interest yet be naïve enough to think that Bhutto and Sharif are here to only save our country with the purest of intentions, and they have absolutely no self interest? That these people are “ideal” leaders? Who, I ask who, is looking out for the interest of Pakistan, Fazalur Rehman, Altaf Husain, chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry? How about you?

So all of you who are clamoring to get rid Musharraf, what is your plan after him, what is it that you hope to achieve? Where do you want to take us from here? The only answer I am sure of here is that the Taliban sympathizers know what they want and where they want to go. The rest just want a change of scenery never realizing that they may see this new scenery as they are falling down the waterfall!

Yaqub Ehsan, Pakistan - 02 December, 2007

Why not a Pakistani TADA law

Pakistan and TADA? With martial law in place, who needs TADA?

Yakub Husain, Pakistan - 05 December, 2007

Musharraf is the only sane guy in this nation of 160 million insane persons. Long live Musharraf!!!

jalaudeen rumi, Pakistan - 05 December, 2007

"So all of you who are clamoring to get rid Musharraf, what is your plan after him, what is it that you hope to achieve? Where do you want to take us from here? The only answer I am sure of here is that the Taliban sympathizers know what they want and where they want to go. The rest just want a change of scenery never realizing that they may see this new scenery as they are falling down the waterfall!

Yaqub Ehsan, Pakistan "
===============

Jinnah answered those questions 60 years ago. And I'm sure someone will ask them again 60 years from now. After all this is Pakistan, a land of pure. Cheers!

Saif, Pakistan - 05 December, 2007

Pakistan quiz

What is common between SWAT and Pakistan (other than that they are both ruled by autocratic regimes)?

Mohammad Ilyas, Pakistan - 05 December, 2007

Power Corrupts IV

I feel sympathy for all my fellow Pakistanis who feel that mush. is the most ideal person to run our country affairs. Perception of this individual is ignorance to reality. What went wrong in Kargil which was apparently the only core issue that triggered the fall of Sharif empire. Was it his billions or industrial empire or millions more out of freezing foreign currency accounts and made the wealthiest among us to shed a few penny's, absolute nonsense. Would we not be getting the same bread and loaf had Sharif still ruled the country. Open your eyes people, last 8 years of dictatorship just added to our miseries nothing else. The spoiled child of our family whom everyone fears must be disciplined, before he spoils his siblings and made them follow his footsteps. Mush. self-proclaimed authority is abuse of our rights as Pakistani citizens. Ohh yes, we are corrupt, dirty, illiterate and aggressive, but so was every nation who claim now be the most civilized nations of the world. One man can shove up emergency to whole nation and silence its media from uttering the real truth. The ruler of any country should be the one who can mingle with the crowd with a fearless approach, talks to them and understand there needs rather to barricade the whole nation for his survival. Freedom of speech is the root to success for every nation as it uncovers the veils of insanity. We are fighting a lost war against souls whom no one bothers to listen and understand. This struggle is not about "Saab Say Phelay Pakistan" its about a child who grew up learning "Might is always Right". If Pakistan has to run by a corrupt ruler like Sharif than so be it, at least he bows against one who created him and not against the one whom he fears in this world.

Zain, Pakistan - 05 December, 2007

Ghosht kay pary main billi

There is no justufication of emergency in Pakistan. Musharaf just made some plan to crush those people who are against him and against his bad plan. He wants to save himself from those people who are against him. He has sacrificed so many innocent people to save himself he has damaged the identity of army. This strongest department of the country is badly damaged by the Musaharaf bad policies. In the history he keep in mind of the people a bad and selfish ruler of this country. He will demage the Idintity of the country. He has been defeated on the plate form of the people but by force is using the Paki army in his favour. A time will come army will not help him and his coundition would be bad and he has no way to walk away . This is his fate Allah will ask him in the grave.

Hammad Ahmed Shah, Solomon Islands - 08 December, 2007

Zain, Pakistan, wrote
=====================

"I feel sympathy for all my fellow Pakistanis who feel that mush. is the most ideal person to run our country affairs. Perception of this individual is ignorance to reality."

"If Pakistan has to run by a corrupt ruler like Sharif than so be it, at least he bows against one who created him and not against the one whom he fears in this world."

My God, what are you saying - you feels a person can be corrupt as long as he bows his head to the Creator Allah SWT. I ask you whoes perception is far from reality.

A person who is corrupt like Nawaz may physically be bowing his head but his heart is arrogantly refusing to bow in front of the Creator. Please read the Holy Quran and you will understand this concept.

A person who bows his head in front of the Creator in ernest can not put his own interest in front of the interest of the people he leads.

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